Our Bob Is An Awesome Bob!

All booked up for our first camping expeditions in Bob! Very exciting!

Last weekend we again camped on Helen’s dad’s front drive. We’re building up to a camp site slowly!

Also there were Helen’s sister’s family and their T4 Caravelle which they use to travel across Europe (England > Spain > Romania > Hungary > England) during June and July. They very cleverly filled the area behind the second row of seats with custom made boxes as part of a false floor so that, if needed, all four of them could sleep in it. Puts the small trips we’ve made in Bob so far into perspective!

But yesterday we went to Southwold in her and we’ll soon be off camping in Devon and in Norfolk. To celebrate our excitement at this I’ve added a new page called Our Travels upon which I shall record all the places we have visited in Bob. In its own way it’s all very exciting!

With summer here (and the school holidays upon us) plans are afoot for using Bob as much as possible. The battery problems have been sorted by the fitment of a new battery which so far, touch wood, is proving to be trouble free.

As a result we’ve started using Bob rather than the Citroen or Rover. Yesterday it was to take Alfie to archery, today it was raspberry picking.

We’ve got two camping trips lined up – to Devon and Norfolk – and because we didn’t sort out the ferry tickets in time France will be happening later. Before that we’re taking Bob to Dad’s for a once-over service, to fix the leaking washer bottle & realign the passenger door in readiness for campsite activity.

My bought Bob to use for camping and hopefully we’ll have a few (good!) stories to tell come the end of the hols…

Before I write this I must say how odd it is that after being almost obsessive about taking pictures over the past six months I completely forgot to this past weekend. So this post is all about our momentous first sleep in Bob and I’ve no photos to mark the occasion. Oops. This doesn’t detract from the weekend of course which was glorious in terms of Bob, the weather and Morris Weekend, I just wish etc. etc.

On Saturday morning Helen filled Bob with all of he things we’ve not really had the opportunity to fill her with before – pots, pans, sleeping kit etc. and we set about trying to sterilise the water tank. A daisy chain of hose pipes lent to us by (and using the outside tap of) Brenda next door flushed out the tank before we filled it up, popped in the sterilising tablets for an hour, and then re-filled it. There are certain leakage issues in the piping between the filler cap behind the passenger seat and the tank itself but otherwise all was fine.

Packed up with our stuff, including ice blocks and milk in the fridge, we set off and we had our first (of two) accidents over the course of the weekend. As I reversed out of the back garden the back wheels dropped off the curb and it was at that moment I realised the passenger side door wasn’t fully clicked to. It was only a slow, gentle drop but it was enough to pull the door open enough for it to wedge on the annoyingly placed fence and, I believe, bend the hinges slightly. Whatever, the door now catches on the frame so we shut the door, locked it, and Helen used the sliding side door for the rest of the weekend. If the door had swung open at any other point but there… It’s an avoidable job that will need doing, and probably won’t be cheap either.

Annoyed but still upbeat we set off for Thaxted. A stop at the local garage showed that the tyres had lost no pressure at all in the past fortnight, which was good. I had noticed that the throttle response seemed poor though and guessed that, as before, it was the pin that holds the throttle pedal up that had fallen out. A second stop in a lay-by and that was sorted, although only by sliding the pin back in – it’ll need a permanent fix soon. We set-off again and as we went around the first bend the fridge door flew open and the entire contents were thrown across the van floor. A third stop saw the power pack & crook lock wedged against the door as the fridge clip seems to be broken. Happily, there were no more stops ’til Thaxted.

Arriving at Helen’s Dad’s house (Moulton) we found that Anne had put a ‘Reserved for Bob’ sign on the drive for us which was a nice touch. We parked up and went in doors to watch the FA Cup Final. We then went out to see the Morris Dancing. Helen’s Dad has danced with Thaxted Morris Men for years and so we always try to go to the annual Ring Meeting where Morris Men from all over the UK ( and sometimes the world) come together in Thaxted to dance. It being the 75th Thaxted Ring Meeting there were many more Morris Men than usual.

Although I forgot to take a picture of Bob parked up and curtains drawn I did take some pictures of the dancing. They were taken on my mobile in poor light into the sun but they’re something! The picture on the right is of  Thaxted Morris Men in flight.

One of the things that happened again and again during the weekend was people wanting to talk about Bob and share their experiences with VW Campers. Almost universally their flaws are discussed openly and critically, but it’s in a jovial and fond way. I wonder how many other vehicles would illicit such a response.

After the first lot of dancing we headed back to Moulton for some excellent food before going back out for the evening session. The Abbots Bromley Horn Dance as danced by Thaxted Morris Men is amazing. Sadly it was on very late due to the large number of Morris Men dancing and Helen’s legs couldn’t cope with more standing. We retired to Bob having missed the Horn Dance – an excellent excuse should one be needed to see it at the Patronal Festival later in the  month.

Our first night in Bob was…cosy. After Alfie had informed us it had been really cold we took our thick sleeping bag. Going to bed in a couple of t-shirts and pyjama bottoms I was soon down to my boxers (sorry for the image!) and poor Helen was in the closed side of the sleeping bag and so cooked. There was also little escape either for her from my snoring. I have decided that Campers are designed for people of 50 years mechanical experience with the body dimensions and suppleness of a 10 year old! It was lovely camping out in her though, and a breakfast of Earl Grey/sterilising tablet tea and chocolate biscuits whilst sat on the bed was bliss!

We’d been invited over to a friend’s house on Sunday morning. We went round for a cuppa and ended up staying for a barbecue lunch. It was a wonderfully relaxing morning and it was perhaps this that led to our second accident of the weekend. The house has a very big, ‘lawned’  garden and the children present (six under the age of seven) had been given rides around the garden in a flat bed truck that was there to help move some furniture. When we eventually left in Bob the atmosphere of relaxed fun caused a rush of blood to the head and me deciding to play up to the crowd. So I didn’t turn Bob around out the front, I drove her around the back to do it. This went down very well until I misjudged the gap between the hedge and the swings and bent one of the seeing posts. I have apologised profusely and been generously forgiven. I shall now move on…

Sunday afternoon was spent in Margaret Gardens watching more dancing and doing a bit of country dancing ourselves. It was a bit too hot sat there, but we’d have been glad of it in the evening  as the wind picked up, the sun went down and our thinned blood demanded blanket around shoulders.

We headed home just as Bob’s lights were needed and were soon in bed sleeping/snoring. The weekend has given us a list of jobs to do (passenger door alignment, throttle pedal pin, fridge door catch etc.) and a taste of what it is to camp out in Bob. It may only have been on a front driveway but it was a start – the first night of many.

One day shy of six months after Bob arrived and she’s finally being used as nature intended. Alfie & his friend George are out in the back garden having a sleep-over. Helen & I shall be trying it out on Saturday and you never know – we might even go to a campsite one day!

This week will see our first night/s in Bob. It’ll be in the back garden and on Helen’s Dad’s drive as test runs but still…!

Also, with the arrival of a new day-to-day car for me we’ll be able to get Bob booked in to have her gearchange sorted properly (and a little more permanently than I can manage).

We went over to Thaxted last night to see Helen’s family. Bob was wonderful. Long may it continue…

Second gear is a little notchy at times but things are looking up. After the accelerator pedal pin coming out on Thursday, Friday’s journeys to and from work were utterly uneventful – apart from the fact that they took place in Bob.

We’re taking her out for a trip through the country lanes tomorrow such is my faith in her. Excellent.

I’ve added a new category – gears – because it’s becoming something of a saga in its own right now.

With the Mazda sold we’re back down to two vehicles and I’m using Bob to get to work each day. I set off for work yesterday to find that the gearchange had degenerated again, so before heading home at the end of the day I had a fiddle with it. My efforts didn’t help much and it was a tricky drive home.

This morning however was shocking. I found myself unable to change down at all, so what should have been a 30-40mph down change from 4th to 3rd had to be a 0mph struggle into 1st before working my way back up through the gears again. My fellow work-run motorists loved me. 

Another stop plate adjustment session took place before coming home and although 1st is a bit vague she’s driveable again. I wonder what the gearchange will be like tomorrow…

In other news, I need to top her up with oil for the first time and don’t really have the kit to reach the awkwardly posiitioned oil cap (I’ve sorted it now I think) and the windscreen washer bottle seems to have spontaneously developed a leak. Like they all do I’m sure.

I’m aware it’s been nearly two months since I last updated, but simultaneously a lot has and has not been happening. I’ve been back at work full time, we’ve been abroad on holiday for several weeks, and Bob is at risk of becoming a very expensive garden ornament.

Here’s a Bob update in a series of bullet points :

• I spent the Saturday after this post again playing with the gear change. After a day getting very mucky (again) and a trip to Colchester where Les at Superbeetles lent us a gear stick to try out I finally got it to work. Very smugly we went out for the evening to visit friends and Bob didn’t miss a beat. Fantastic!
• That week I used Bob to get to work every day. The Smart was about to be sold and so I thought it was a good opportunity to start using out VW as a daily driver. As was good for the first couple of days until gradually the gears became harder and harder to find. I presumed the stop plate was gradually slipping, but as Helen was off on holiday at the weekend I was able to use her Citroen and so didn’t worry too much about it.
• We decided whilst on holiday that Italy 2009 was going to be come Possibly-Italy 2010. We simply haven’t had enough times out in Bob to make sure we’re ready for such an epic trip, and besides a rookie-trip to Italy with an 8-months-pregnant Helen is perhaps a little foolhardy!
• On our return from holiday I tried to start Bob up. Nothing – a flat battery. Thankfully I bought a power pack from Halfords and so was able to get her going. I tried again to adjust the gear stick but failed. As I had just bought a cheap MX-5 to use day-to-day I gave up trying to sort out the gear change for the time being.
• Frustrated with having Bob on the drive and not being able to drive her I booked her into Schilward Motors as had been suggested by MOT Services Halstead. I chose them because they’re much nearer to my work than Superbeetles so driving a vehicle with only two-and-a-half gears isn’t such a problem. They couldn’t fit her in until the 11th May though.
• May 5th, Helen’s birthday, and we’re planning to go out for a meal. As a treat I thought I’d have a go at the stop plate again – with just half-an-hour to go before we left the house! I had a theory that last time I’d simply pushed the stop plate too far forward, so I loosened everything off, pulled it back a mm or two and had a drive around the block. Success! All the gears worked – up and down. I did have to use the power pack to start her up though so I left her running for a while to recharge the battery. When the time came to go out we jumped in and…I needed the power pack again. She ran like a dream to the restaurant, and it was lovely to have her sat in the car park knowing she was ours. Following another great meal at The Bulmer Fox we talked of camping out in Bob that night (but deciding that my snoring would keep Alfie awake on a school night – not a good idea!) before heading home. Sympathetic glances were given by fellow diners as they drove away in their new cars watching me have to connect up the power pack again, but we were soon off and home again.
• Bob’s still booked in at the garage next week because although you can now change gear it’s not A1 and I don’t necessarily have enough faith in my mechanical skills to think that it’s a permanent job. Maybe they won’t be able to do anything but at least then we’ll know that what I can do is good enough. We also need to sort out the battery. Although the power pack has already proved invaluable it doesn’t charge batteries so we’ll have to look into that. Having to link up the power pack each time you want Bob to start is a bit of a downer.

The summer weather is coming, Bob is running well (when she’s going) and I’m feeling much more positive about her. I can even bear to look in the classified section of Volksworld : Camper & Bus and see how much prices have fallen since we bought Bob, because it is lovely having her and the possibilites for the future outweigh the problems. Just!